Yesterday we had the pleasure of spending Thanksgiving (Kellie and I dubbed it Fenksday, as we began using "fenks" to replace "thanks" after a 2002 game of Balderdash) with my favorite Pittsburgh family - Kellie, Mike, Jack, Gail, and Iris. Olive had a much better night than usual the night before and allowed us to sleep in way later than we'd hoped, so we got a late start on the day, not rising till nearly 11 (whoops. Any other day, Buggy!), but we still managed to get all the food prepared and were digging into our plates by 5:30. The day was customarily wet and Novembery, though a pre-dinner run would've been nice. It's been years since I've done it, but it was always one of my favorite family traditions on this day, heading out for a several-mile slog to make room for the barrage of food that would soon be crammed down our gullets. That, and we were all mostly regular runners anyway. Next year, Kellie, let's make a pact to fit it in, even if we have to leave everyone else behind (though I'll push for a full-on multi-family run, with the husbands and all the wee ones in jogging strollers).
Getting over the initial shock of stuffing Jimmy's body cavity. Poulty, dead or alive, has always given me the willies. Jack-as-T-Rex was there to oversee and help keep me in line.
Fenksday has to be a lot of work, you say? Not if Ocean Spray, Kellie, and a can opener have anything to do with it.
The kids gathered 'round to hear Rob's storytelling. Later, when Rob was reading Gail a Lion King book, we concluded that black-haired uncles are evil, had bad motives, and are not to be trusted. Hmm.
Kellie and Dollbear Iris. What a sweetiedoll. So happy, except when Rob and I made her cry. She'll get used to us soon.
Mike, Gail, and the spread.
Nuttigail. She's going to be an owl when she grows up, so look out.
Jimmy. A handsome devil, is he not? And Amish, to boot!
Here is a sample of the dinner menu (but for those curious, my lunch menu was Kellie's picked-out black Jujyfruits that she'd thoughtfully saved for me, a plate of plain Ronzoni rotini pasta, and a black plum):
*Kellie's arugula and pear salad with pomegranate and yum olive oil and lemon dressing
*crusty rolls that Mike picked up at Trader Joe's (Olive scavenged Jack's - that he may or may not have purposefully let fall to the floor - and munched on it for the latter half of the meal). Kellie and I opted out of baking bread, realizing that we had food aplenty and worrying ourselves with more food prep was unnecessary.
*Jimmy, our 16-lb Amish turkey. Somewhere during the course of his preparation, I got on the subject of the "jimmyleg", the leg spasms referred to by Kramer in a Seinfeld episode. Jack, intrigued, led me to concoct the unavoidable story about how the turkey's leg was called a jimmyleg, and he was pretty amused. I've always been a sucker for pulling kids' legs, or jimmylegs, as it were.
*A cranberry-apple-pecan stuffing that was every bit as wonderful as we hoped it'd be. The fennel that we used in lieu of celery was a good touch, I thought. I do love fennel.
*Rob's squashed potatoes. I laboriously peeled our enormous blue hubbard squash the night before while we watched an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I will never again peel a hubbard squash; the things leave a strange and unpleasant jaundice-like residue on your hands that make it look like you mainline carrot juice. It comes off in about 24 hours, though, so it's no big deal. The same goes for butternut squash. A small price to pay for squashed potatoes. These also featured a head of kale, and I could not partake in this side dish because of it. Kale and I are still on the outs.
*A curried pumpkin soup that we made the day before. A week or so ago we sampled some curried pumpkin soup at Whole Foods and decided to make some ourselves. We garnished the soup with roasted pecans and the delicious seeds from the ol' hubbard squash, and dag, were those good.
*Plain old jellied cranberry, courtesy of the good folks at Ocean Spray. Mike had requested it, but I'm a pretty big fan of the stuff, myself. I really love how it comes out of the can in perfectly-sliced discs, as easily as you could wish!
*Kellie's expertly-done cranberry apple pie and pumpkin pie (though I didn't have room to sample any of the latter, regrettably)
It was a great day. The kids were all dolls and goons (and T-Rexes and owls, to be precise), and it was very nice to be able to share such a wonderful feast with my most excellent sister and her lovely family. I hope we can reprise the occasion next year. Happy Fenksday to all!
thanks for posting pics. MAN! does jack look like mike when he was little in that first photo-- and a little like boober.
ReplyDeleteit was a fun day. and by the way, i sliced the cranberries- it is satisfying how they come out perfectly can-shaped though, little ridges and all. and we have olive's sock, just so you know.